Blue Lagoon Beach Snorkeling Tour with Lunch Padangbai Bali

Padangbai, East Bali's Harbour Village

Padangbai is a small harbour village in the Karangasem regency on Bali's east coast, best known as the port for ferries and fast boats to Lombok and the Gili Islands. Around the busy harbour, though, the coast is lined with small coves of white sand and some of the clearest water in Bali, which is why so many travellers searching for the best snorkeling in Bali end up here.

How to get to Padangbai? From Kuta, Seminyak or Nusa Dua the drive takes around one and a half to two hours, and a little less from Ubud, depending on traffic. In the default option our driver handles the journey in a private air-conditioned car, so you can relax on the way and arrive ready for the water.

Blue Lagoon Snorkelling Spot

Blue Lagoon is a small, sheltered cove just north of Padangbai harbour, with a short beach backed by green hills. After a briefing and fitting your snorkel gear, you board a traditional boat for a ride of about ten minutes to the reef. The water here is usually calm and clear, with shallow coral gardens that suit beginners as well as confident swimmers.

Under the surface you can expect hard and soft corals, anemones with clownfish, shoals of colourful reef fish and, if you are lucky, a passing sea turtle. Your snorkelling guide stays with the group in the water, helps with masks and fins and points out marine life. Total snorkelling time across both spots is about two hours.

Tanjung Jepun

The second snorkelling site is Tanjung Jepun, a small cape on the other side of Padangbai where the reef slopes into deeper water. It is a well-known spot for macro life and reef fish, and the guide leads you along the reef to find lionfish, lobsters hiding in crevices, parrotfish, clownfish and moray eels.

Visibility depends on the tides and the season and is usually best in the dry months from April to October, in the morning before the wind picks up. Combining two different reefs in one trip is what makes this Padangbai snorkeling tour good value: one calm and colourful, the other richer in small creatures.

Balinese Lunch at Blue Lagoon Beach

Back on land you rinse off in the showers, change and sit down to a Balinese set lunch at a beachside restaurant above Blue Lagoon Beach, where seafood is the house speciality. The terrace looks over the turquoise water and the colourful outrigger boats pulled up on the sand.

Lockers, changing rooms and Wi-Fi are available, and there is time to relax in the shade or take a final swim from the beach before your driver takes you back. Bring your own towel and swimwear, as they are not provided. If you have time before the drive, the short path over the headland gives a lovely view down onto the cove and the boats bobbing in the clear water, a perfect last photo of East Bali.

Add Ubud Monkey Forest or Tibumana and Kanto Lampo Waterfalls

Two options turn the day into a longer East Bali and Ubud tour. The first adds the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Ubud on the way back, where forest paths, carved temples and free-roaming macaques make a striking contrast with the reef.

The second adds two jungle waterfalls in the Gianyar regency. Tibumana is a single, graceful fall dropping into a pool at the end of a short forest walk, while Kanto Lampo tumbles over stepped volcanic rock and is a favourite for photos. Entrance tickets are included in both options, and the private transfer means the driver simply waits while you explore. Bring a second set of dry clothes and comfortable shoes, as the paths down to both waterfalls include steps that can be wet.